A performance report quantifies how a trading system has performed over a given period of time. It’s a way to evaluate the risk, reward and expectancy of a trading method. Listed are some of the most common terms in a performance report, with a brief explanation of how I like to use the measurement.

With the S&P 500 being down over 30% year to date investors are getting nervous about their sinking retirement accounts. Many are simply throwing the towel and converting a majority of their stock mutual funds into bond funds in order to prevent their investments fall further in case we experience the next great depression.

ETFs are an extremely popular investment option, due to their low costs, diversified risks and accessibility. Here, Jonas Elmerraji looks at the various ways of investing in ETFs. He also recommends three small-cap ETFs for penny stock portfolios.

S&P white paper notes dividends are not only a critical component of total return, but dividends serve as a cushion in down markets. The compounding of dividends adds significantly to the total return of ones investment.

Not too surprisingly, mutual fund investors tend to ramp up their purchases at the top of the stock market cycle. This post shows the one year forward return along with the current period mutual fund flows.

The falling stock prices have pushed dividend yields on major US indices like S&P 500 and Dow Jones to levels not seen since the early 1990’s. The current trailing 12 month dividend rate for the Dow Diamonds ETF (DIA) that tracks Dow Industrials average is $ 3.02, which makes for a dividend yield of 3.64%.

The current price pattern, rise in bond prices, decline in yields and spike in VIX set up a short term (1-3 day ) bullish scenario for the S&P. Since 1990 the S&P has increased in price 18 of 18 times if the market rallys a percentage of range above the open.

The power of the dividend aristocrats has been evident in a turbulent year like 2008 so far. Below you could find the year to date performance of three out of the four indexes mentioned above:

On Friday it was reported that unemployment hit 6.1 % the highest level in five years as employers cut 84K payrolls. The SPY, DIA and QQQQ’s all opened lower and proceeded to lose even more ground as selling accelerated. Oil declined as well, which was not a positive, as it dragged down oil related stocks like XOM, CVX and BP down with it.

At the beginning of the 21st century most young people are told that social security won’t be there for them when they retire from the work force. Thus, in order to be able to completely retire from the workforce, a person has to invest as early as possible in order to take full advantage of the power of compounding.

I recently read a paper from Jeremy Siegel and Jeremy Schwartz titled “The Long-term Returns on the Original S&P 500 Firms”.

On July 7, 2008 S&P 500 went into bear market territory after sliding 20% from its October 9th 2007 all-time highs at 1565.15. The current bear market correction has been going on for more than nine months. So how long do bear markets last on average?

Study that examines performance after the top ten worst months for each asset class, and resulting 1,3,6, and 12 month performance. (The 10 worst months happens about about 3% of the time, or once ever three years per asset class.)